Top 30 Squarespace Questions Answered

Website Design

Aug 10

Facebook groups, blog comment sections, and Quora are all stocked full of questions about Squarespace.

Squarespace websites are the talk of the town these days and for good reason! It’s easy to create a truly stunning design, they’re easy to launch, and the websites produced are indeed very powerful.

It’s a big decision to choose or switch your website system, so I wanted to be the one to lay out all the most frequent questions and the answers to them in order to set things straight.

I have no intention of getting into the WordPress vs. Squarespace battleground as that horse had been beaten to death a million times over. But I DO want to let you know what Squarespace is capable of, in one convenient location.

So let’s start!

Squarespace Questions, Answered

1. Can I hook up a domain purchased somewhere else to Squarespace?

Yep! You have a few options here.

You may transfer a domain purchased somewhere else to Squarespace and then use it for your Squarespace website. (This is a relatively new Squarespace feature, so not many people know about it yet.) Alternatively, if you have a domain purchased somewhere such as GoDaddy, you can also keep it with GoDaddy and use it for your Squarespace website.

To transfer your domain, visit this page and click the ‘Already have a domain? Transfer it to Squarespace’ button.

If you want to keep your domain where you purchased it and link it to your website, visit this page.

If you haven’t bought a domain yet, you can get one straight through Squarespace here.

2. Can I get a .com and/or .ca with Squarespace?

Yes. You can purchase a domain (or depending on the Squarespace plan you choose, you may qualify to get a free .com domain for a year.) See if the .com you want is available here.

3. Where can I input SEO keywords?

Here’s 4 places to get you started.

The search engine description (Settings > SEO > Search Engine Description)
The URL slug of each page (click the gear icon beside each page name > URL slug)
The page description for each page (click the gear icon beside each page name > Description)
Every image on your website (first upload an image > Filename)

If you want to really ‘up’ your SEO game on your website, there’s two free resources I’d suggest. If you want to really in-depth, Moz has a fantastic course here. If you’d like something broken down really quickly & easily, Odds and Ends Creative free SEO Spring Cleaning e-course is great. Odds and Ends Creative uses Squarespace, so there’s lots of relevant Squarespace examples in the course.

4. Can I use custom code in Squarespace?

Yes, yes, yes! This is one of the biggest Squarespace myths out there. You can add code and CSS styling to blog posts, pages, navigation, footer, sidebar, headers, banners, etc. If you really want to go wild, you can use The Squarespace Developer Platform too.

If you’re coding clueless, then the Squarespace Answers page is super helpful to find the code you need to make the changes you want. There’s also Square Plugins that sells code snippets to make fab things happen with your Squarespace website.

5. Is Squarespace good for my type of business/blog?

There is no one right answer for the ‘should I use Squarespace?’ question. The answer depends on many factors. Your business/blog size, your personal preferences, and your tolerance for spending time updating and maintaining your website. It’s similar to the iPhone/Android argument.

People who tend to love Squarespace include small business owners, bloggers & artists. Die-hard Squarespace users also tend to like modern, clean design, aren’t interested in doing a lot of coding, and have minimal time/desire to dedicate to website maintenance and security issues.

If you’re someone with a large business or will be running some complex systems through your online space (forums, shops with over 200 items, etc.), go WordPress.

6. Is it possible to make a Squarespace website look custom, and not just like the template?

Sure is! In fact, if your website looks just like the template, I’m sorry to say, but you’re doing it wrong. There’s quite a few things you can do when designing to make sure your website looks unique and anything but cookie-cutter.

I would suggest not using the ‘demo’ pages that come with the template. Instead, start with blank pages and add your content in the way you like best, instead of just swapping a demo photo or text for your own.
Spend lots of time in the Style Editor changing out all the demo fonts, colours, spacing, page setups, button styles, etc. to the options that really represent your brand.
Play! The very best way to make your Squarespace website look like all your own is to get adventurous, don’t worry about breaking anything, just have at your website, and have fun. The more you play with your new site, the more you’ll learn about Squarespace, and the more you’ll be able to customize it.
Hire a website designer. While it’s still absolutely true that you can make a great DIY website with Squarespace, for people who really want to knock it out of the park with their website and make it look like nothing else out there, a website designer is a God send. There are many website designers that specialize in Squarespace and know all the hidden secrets and workarounds to create exactly your vision. In fact, you’re on a Squarespace website designers website right now. Check out how we can work together on this page.

7. Can I hide a page that’s already created but is for future use in Squarespace?

Yes, drag the page to the ‘Not Linked’ section of the website index. The page in the not linked section will still be searchable in the Search bar however, or if someone knows the URL slug. If you want it really, really hidden, create the page, click the gear (settings) icon for the page, and switch the page from ‘Enabled’ to ‘Disabled’. That way it’s fully hidden.

If you want to show off your new page to someone, but not have it available to all site viewers, add a password to that specific page. Again, have the page in the ‘Not Linked’ section, don’t disable it, but instead click the gear (settings) icon, type a password in the ‘password’ field, and click save. Then give the URL slug and password to whoever you want to see the page.

8. Does a blog automatically come with Squarespace (hosting & the blog set up)?

Yes. Hosting for your website and blog is included in all Squarespace plans. Additionally, all Squarespace plans and templates support a blog (or multiple blogs if you really want to get fancy). Setting up the blog consists of clicking Add a page > Blog

Voila!

9. Can I have a blog archive on Squarespace?

Yes. Lauren Hooker from Elle & Company Design goes through multiple ways to create & style a blog archive in this post.

10. Can you schedule blog posts to publish in the future with Squarespace?

Yes. In your blog post editor click ‘Draft’ in the bottom right corner > scheduled > date & then choose the exact date and time you want it to publish.

11. Can I add photos to a blog post in bulk, instead of uploading each individually?

Yes. Instead of using an image block and uploading each photo individually, use a ‘gallery block’ for this. You can drag a whole folder or selected bunch of photos into the gallery block uploader at once.

12. What size should photos be when I upload them to Squarespace? What if I’m a photographer or blogger, so really crisp photos are important?

Regardless if you go with Squarespace or with some other website platform, massive photo file sizes slows down a website. If you have a DSLR that takes photos which produces massive file sizes, I suggest using JPEG Mini on all of your images. (They also have an app which makes bulk sizing many images at once easy). JPEG Mini shrinks the file size without reducing the quality of the image.

Best practices for photo sizes in Squarespace is 1500 – 2500 px wide, and less than 500 KB per image.

13. Can I make money on a Squarespace blog/website?

Heck yes! Use affiliate links, place ads on your website, sell products or services, and take on sponsored posts. You can make money whatever way your little hear desires with Squarespace!

14. Can I use Google Adsense on a Squarespace website?

Sure can! First, set up your Google Adsense account and then create an ad.

Then copy the code from the ad, head back to Squarespace, insert a ‘code block’ anywhere on the page you’d like your ad to appear (you can also insert ads in your blog posts or sidebar if you wish), paste the code & you’re all done.

15. Can I use Google Analytics with Squarespace?

Sure can. First, set up your Google Analytics account, then find your Google Analytics Tracking ID.

In Google Analytics click Admin > Property Settings & then copy your Tracking ID (it starts with UA- and then is followed by a bunch of numbers).

In Squarespace click Settings > Advanced > External Services and then paste in your Tracking ID where it says ‘Google Analytics Account Number. Click save & you’re done.

16. Are Squarespace metrics able to be exported to excel?

No, unfortunately not. However, if you want to get all in-depth with your website statistics, I suggest Google Analytics anyways, and you can export those statistics to excel.

Squarespace metrics are really nice for a quick overview of the important stats on your website, and seeing your stats on the go with the Squarespace Metrics mobile phone app. However, if you want to get a more broad & clear picture of your website activity, hook up Google Analytics (it’s free & described above how to set it up).

17. Can website updates blast out to my social media accounts with Squarespace?

Yes, you can set up Squarespace so that it auto-post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tumblr every time you publish new blogs, galleries, events, products or album tracks. This article walks you through how to do that.

18. How much does Squarespace cost?

Currently at the time of writing this post (Jan, 2017) Squarespace website plans range from $12 – $18/month and online store plans range from $26 – $40/month.

19. What Squarespace plan is best for me?

To start off with, you’ll receive a free 14 day trial to test out using the platform, try your hand at designing your website, and just generally see if Squarespace feels right for you.

After that time, you’ll need to pick a plan to get your website live.

90% of my clients use the lowest plan, the $12/month website plan, and this is more often than not enough for most people who are just getting live with a website. The main difference between this plan and the plan one step up ($18/month) is that you can have 20 pages, as opposed to unlimited pages.

The vast majority of websites out there consist of less than 20 pages, so this plan is perfectly fine for most people. If down the line when you have your website for a while and you realize you need/want more than 20 pages, its super simple to switch plans. It takes all of 3 clicks to change plans. (P.S. Changing plans has no effect on your website design, set up, pages, etc.)

Basically, start with the free trial while you’re testing out the platform, then go for the $12/month plan. If down the line you want more than 20 pages then switch up plans one level.

If you’re running an online store on the other hand, I suggest picking an online store plan from the get-go as you receive added features which helps make running an online store easier and cheaper (e-commerce specific analytics, avoidance of the Squarespace sales fee, etc). Basically your only choice here is, are the two added features of the higher priced plan valuable to you? That is abandoned checkout auto-recovery and real time carrier shipping. If yes, choose the $40/month plan, if those features don’t make much difference for you, go with the $26/month plan.

20. Can I have my Instagram feed at the bottom of the page?

Yes ma’am. You can add the ‘Instagram block’ anywhere on your website, style it to have however many rows, photos, spacing between photos, etc. your little heart desires. Guide and video on how to add an Instagram block here.

21. Can I make a membership website with Squarespace?

Sure can! Memberspace was created by a group of Squarespace designers to help you take membership payments once, monthly or annually, etc.

22. Can I have customers make appointments with me through Squarespace?

While this is not inherent in Squarespace, you can absolutely make it happen. My choice is integrating Acuity Scheduling (free for solo business owners, paid plans available for larger organizations). I walk you through how to set up your appointment bookings with Acuity & Squarespace in this post.

23. Can I use a pop up on Squarespace?

Yes. I have tested out a bunch for myself and clients on Squarespace, and really like Privy popups. I walk you through how to set up the popup, add it to your site, and (if you really want to go all in) deliver an opt-in gift with Privy & Squarespace here.

24. Can I deliver an opt-in gift with Squarespace?

Yes. There’s about a zillion ways to go about this. Here’s a few really good posts to walk you through the different options to do this.

25. Can I only use MailChimp with Squarespace, or can I use a different email service provider?

Use whatever you like best! MailChimp is seamlessly integrated into the Squarespace platform, but that doesn’t mean it’s your only option. To use another email service provider, just copy the code from your email service provider for the sign-up forms, and paste it into Squarespace anywhere on your site using a ‘code block’.

26. Can I upload a PDF to my Squarespace website?

Yes. This article from Squarespace shows you how to upload and link to any type of file (including PDF’s) on your site.

27. Can you make a multilingual website with Squarespace?

Yes. This article goes into how that’s done.

28. Can I get a Pin It button on my photos on Squarespace?

Yes. Click Settings > Marketing > Pin It Buttons & click Enabled. Then choose the style of button you’d like (rectangle, circle, large small).

29. Can I use a custom font with Squarespace?

Yes. You can choose any font and follow this guide, or choose a TypeKit font and follow this guide on how to add the font to your website.

30. Can I take restaurant reservations on a Squarespace website?

Yes. You’ll use the OpenTable program that’s integrated into Squarespace for this. First, you’ll need to create an account with OpenTable. Then on Squarespace, head to the page you want to take reservations, insert an ‘open table block’, add your RestaurantID and click save. Full guide on how to go about doing this right here.

BONUS

Are there any famous companies or people who use Squarespace?

Yep. Studio McGee, #girlboss, Tony Hawk, Lyft, and HailMichigan all use Squarespace, among others.